Maine DOE announces data training sessions

There are many changes coming in the 2015-16 school year. In order that accurate student and staff data is reported to the Maine DOE, it is important that the appropriate staff attend one (or more) of these training sessions.

Registration is required so that we can properly determine the training materials needed as well as set up any NEO accounts ahead of time. Registration must be done at the following link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/LYSXBT5.

NEO Staff

The Department recently made the decision to replace the staff collection piece of MEDMS with a new application called NEO Staff. Beginning with the 2015-16 school year, all staff will be entered in this new system and MEDMS will no longer be used for this purpose. There are other pieces currently in MEDMS like HQT, Certification Reports, etc. that will still reside in MEDMS for the immediate future but all will eventually be replaced. The Department is also undergoing the development of a new Certification System so the compliance reporting piece currently in MEDMS will remain in MEDMS for the 2015-16 school year or until the new Certification System has been implemented.

All staff that is charged with entering staff data in the 2015-16 school year must attend one of these training sessions.

Graduation / Dropout Reporting

The process we have been using over the past few years have been very time consuming and it has been difficult to meet our federal reporting commitments. Therefore, we have developed a new process which districts and schools must follow in order to both complete the process in a timely manner and improve data quality. A new NEO Graduation/Dropout module has been developed. All staff that are charged with completing the completers and dropout validation reports as well as the 4 year adjusted cohort graduation validation (ACGR), 5 year (ACGR) validation and 6 year (ACGR) validation reports should attend this session.

In addition, since we calculate dropouts on students in grades 7 through 12, it is also recommended that staff from schools that have grades 7 and 8 also attend this session in order to understand what their responsibilities are.

There are other topics covered also covered at these training sessions. The current agenda is listed below.

Training Agenda for all sessions

8:30 to 9:00 – Coffee/Donuts

9:00 to 10:30 – NEO Staff – wireless access will be available at all locations. If users bring their own laptop, they will have an opportunity to work on their own districts staff data if they desire. If this is not an option for the user, we will provide handouts and other materials the user can take back with them to their districts.

10:30 to 10:45 – Changes to the student enrollment upload – this is geared toward non-Infinite Campus District Edition users. Those staff members that use Power School, Web to School or any other SIS system and also are charged with uploading data into Infinite Campus State Edition, should attend in order that they are aware of the changes made to the student upload process.

10:45 to 11:00 – Maine Schools Update: The NEO Maine Schools Update is the application that sets the infrastructure data points the department uses to determine which schools are responsible for all state reporting. It is recommended that any central office or administration staff personnel charged to submit this data for the 2015/16 school year attend this training session.

11:00 to 11:10 – School Approval – Each public school is required to go through the school approval process every three years. The 2015/16 school year is the year all schools must get re-approved. A new NEO module has been created in order to do this. It is recommended that any central office or administration staff personnel charged to submit this data for the 2015/16 school year attend this training session.

12:45 to 1:15 – Lunch – only those planning on attending lunch (no charge) are asked to select this option.

1:15 to 1:25 – Student security – FERPA – How to use/request secure email. The department now has a secure email option available for district and school staff that can be used if it is necessary to communicate student identifiable information. There will be a handout given out to describe the process which you can bring back and share with your district. It is recommended that those that attend the graduation session also attend this session.

1:25 to 1:55 – Truancy – There has been quite a bit of confusion in the current truancy module. Any staff charged with entering truancy data into Infinite Campus, should attend this session.

1:55 to 2:10 – Behavior – Understand exactly which incidents are required to be reported and which are not required. Staff that are charged with entering student behavior incidents in Infinite Campus should attend this session.